I need urgent help in clearing some fundamental doubts that I have about my research. I have to write a proposal for a paper on English literature but I am confused between the various kinds of papers that there are. Can someone help me out with the difference between an Empirical paper and a Review paper? And I also cannot figure out how the Literature Review section of a paper is different from an entire Review paper? As per my understanding the review paper seems to be a longer version of a literature review of a paper, is that so? I’m finding it difficult to differentiate between these differences in meaning of different kinds of papers, please help me out. Also which of these types of papers is preferred for English literature proposals?

I see that you have to write a proposal for a paper in English Literature. The basic difference between a review paper and an Empirical paper is that an empirical paper is actually based on an original research involving your own analysis & interpretation and conclusion based on the same. On the other hand, in a review paper, on a topic of your choice, you provide an overview of the studies conducted so far on the topic, thereby identifying specific issues that you can take up in your study. Therefore, in layman terms you might say that a review paper is a longer version of the Literature Review, however both have different purposes.

A Review paper or article is different from a traditional research paper in the sense that it is not a work of original research in the field, instead it summarises the existing research on a specific field, topic or area for those looking to research further in the area. A review article summarises and provides an overview of articles/papers written in a particular field, as such it is based on secondary research and not on primary research in the area. The purpose of a review paper is to help scholars or academics in the field by describing the recent research developments and by providing them with a recap of the state of research in the area. If you have trouble identifying a review paper you can go about it by analysing what the author(s) are doing in the paper. If they appear to be analysing, commenting, and comparing research articles written earlier then it is most likely to be a review paper. Unlike a research paper they will not be describing a survey/experiment or any novel research that they conducted in a Review paper.